Saturday, April 19, 2008

A Few Thoughts From the Sofa

Dear friends,

Tonight I am on the sofa thinking about some things and want to tell you about them.

First, I want to tell you a very sad thing. My friend, Cub Poppy, could not get well in her body, and she died. My mama gets tears in her eyes when she talks about it. I know Cub's family misses her very much, because they had a lot of love together, all of them, and they still do.

One of my mama's friends says, "If dogs don't go to heaven, I want to go where they go when I die." I think it's a silly thing to worry about. Where else would dogs go? My mama always says the way to salvation is to become exactly the person God made you to be, and since dogs have a lot less trouble doing that than people do, we must be going to heaven. We don't know how to pretend the way you do, and we don't want to, anyway. We just love and get hungry and have a drink of water and tell you when it's time for a cookie; we keep it simple. We run when we see the ducks in the park, just to tell them how pretty they are. We roll in piles of dry moss that the neighbors raked, and then we shake the moss out of our coats. We enjoy ourselves. We enjoy the world. That's being real.

I've been going to see a nice vet named Dr. Karen. I've known her since I was a baby puppy. She taught my mama and my Papa Bear how to take care of a puppy. I trust Dr. Karen, so even though she is sticking little poking things into me, I stand still, mostly, and I lie down until it's time to have the little poking things come out again. Dr. Karen pats me over and over again to be sure there are none left behind, but maybe she pets me a little extra because I am so soft. Petting a soft dog makes a person feel better. I hope Cub's people are petting The Boy dog at their house, and I hope they all make each other feel as better as they can feel while they are getting used to Cub being gone.

Here is my dream for Cub: Cub feels as light as a puppy but as wise as she was on earth, and she is meeting other dogs waiting for their humans to come some day, and she is not lonely, and she is wearing a sky-blue bandanna with fluffy clouds printed on it, because she is an angel dog now.

Mama has been hugging and petting me a lot the past few days, and talking to me about Cub. We are all sad about Cub going to heaven, but sadder for the Typist and the Alpha and The Boy. We have been sending them lots of love, and I send waggies too.

I woke her up to read her the Molly-message about salvation: "My mama always says the way to salvation is to become exactly the person God made you to be, and since dogs have a lot less trouble doing that than people do, we must be going to heaven. We don't know how to pretend the way you do, and we don't want to, anyway."

She licked my nose and went back to sleep. She doesn't know how much you and she and Cub and all the other great dogs teach me every day.

I woke her up to read her the Molly-message about salvation: "My mama always says the way to salvation is to become exactly the person God made you to be, and since dogs have a lot less trouble doing that than people do, we must be going to heaven. We don't know how to pretend the way you do, and we don't want to, anyway."

She licked my nose and went back to sleep. She doesn't know how much you and she and Cub and all the other great dogs teach me every day.

Molly, this was beautiful to read and I know that you and your mama are absolutely right about dogs and heaven...My lovely Maisie is there welcoming Cub Poppy, and getting very excited because that's what she loves doing best, welcoming friends.And I'm crying a little bit and sending lots of love and patting and petting to you

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